The sultanate was founded by Raden Patah. Raden Patah is the son of the last king of Majapahit, Pangeran Kertabhumi or Prabu Brawijaya. His real name is Jin Bun. His mother is a Chinese woman, Retno Siu Ban Ci, who is gifted to Arya Damar in Palembang.
When Trenggana (Raden Patah’s son) ruled Demak Sultanate, he oversaw the expansion of Demak’s influence to the east and west, and the last Hindu-Buddhist state of east Java fell in circa 1527. Trenggana was also an important participant in the conversion of Banjarmasin in south Borneo in the 1520s, and was a major military commander.
The Demak Sultanate was ruled by three Sultans and lasted for half a century. It had reached the height of greatness in the religion, education and culture, government and politics, and the economy and trade.
In the 1520s, an army from Demak led by the semi-legendary Sunan eventually created the sultanate of Bantam in Pajajaran in western Java, which lasted until 1918.
Demak had been famous since the 14th century and became the part of economic growth on the strait of Malaka. Demak in the 14th century was fertile swamps and plenty of rice fields.
Demak under the reign of Raden Fatah was one of the big Sultanates in Java with its abundant amounts of crops. It was called Bandar Niaga (commercial port) as the center of economic activities especially the export of rice to Malay peninsula.
The progress exceeded because of the support of trustees and tolerant Islamic societies, compelling and authoritative rulers, a formidable military, dominant economy, and business and policies planned by its rulers so that Demak could become a bastion of Islamic greatness in medieval Java.
Soon after the collapse of Demak Sultanate, Pajang (1549) and Mataram Sultanate (1575) emerged from the inland of Java and the latter became the strongest Islamic sultanate in Java until nineteenth century.
Sultanate of Demak
